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7wanderingpaws · 6 years

Text

1. Whales.

Genre: marine biologist AU

Pairing: Bambam x reader

Word count: 3.5K

0. Synopsis // 1. Whales. // 2. Dolphins.

(( Please do let me know what you think! It would mean a lot! <3 Also, the names of the chapters have nothing to do with the actual content of the chapter hihi. ))

- - - WHALES - - -

Busan, 2018

What were the odds. . .

You thought you wouldn’t pass this exam. It was quite hard and you hated oral examinations at its best. You loved to hate them, to think about how much you hate them. Talking in front of a professor who was working hard to not make you pass was certainly you utmost hateful experience and you loathed every minute of it.

As soon as the words slipped out of the teacher’s mouth, you thought you are just dreaming.

“You passed.”

Because, truth to be told, you hated chemistry. Ugh. What a pain in the butt. Biochemistry? Okay, doable, but still a big amount of students hated this subject (plus the professor? Oh my god. Horror.) Oceanology was something that you absolutely adored and decided to once do a PhD in this area. Zoology was certainly nice. And then... Fisheries. What a course. Well, what could you say. Without fish there are no oceans. Without oceans, there is no marine biology or oceanology or oceanography or humanity itself. No big deal.

Overall, you loved your degree. And now... you achieved something in it.

Did you really pass?

Oh my.

Did you officially become a marine biologist?

Could you finally do what you always dreamed of doing? Did you dream came true? Somebody should slap you.

“Mum,” you breathed, adjusting the big glasses on your uneven nose. “I did it. I’m a marine biologist.”

Your mum gave out a sigh of relief as she was happily jumping on her short legs. “I’m so proud of you.”

You nodded, unable to process everything. “Yes. I’m proud of myself, too.”

“So what is the next step? You will stay in Busan, right? The researching possibilities are much bigger over there-“

“No, mum,” you interrupted her, before she could say more reasons why you should stay in your university town. “I’m coming home. I’m going back to Mokpo.”

“Oh, are you sure about that? I mean this is a very little town, only good for fishing.”

“No,” you repeated, this time much more confident. “I grew up in Mokpo so I will make Mokpo famous. I will prove that this part of Korea is also as important as any other seaside in this country. But mostly, I will break all the stereotypes about us that ever existed.”

It was your time to shine.

“So I’ve heard the news,” said Jinyoung as he sat down opposite you in the university cafe, a tea cup in his hand. “Congratulations.”

You smiled, stretching your tired arms above your head. “Thanks!”

“So we’ve made it,” he stated again, this time a big smile spreading across his gentle face. Jinyoung was proud of you. After all, he knew you very well.

You were one of the shiest people he got to know throughout his young life. You were awkward, stuttering, and extremely introverted and yet, he thought you were one of the most beautiful girls he ever laid eyes on.

The gentle freckles on your nose, the warm big eyes, the ever-messy dark hair, the glasses that magnified your eyes and you kind of looked like a squirrel but not entirely. The knitted sweaters you insisted on wearing even when it was warm outside... You’d always say: “So what if it’s hot? That’s why there are ACs. To make the room cold. So I can wear sweaters.”

“Ah, donneven,” you mumbled, supporting your elbows on the table and placing your chin into your hands. “From tomorrow on, I’m going to apply for the researching institute and I will prove how important our seas are!” you exclaimed proudly.

Jinyoung chuckled and took a sip from his tea. “Look at you, all bright and self-confident. I really hope it will stay this way, Y/N.”

“I hope so too,” you replied. “And what about you? How is your job going?”

“Oh well, kids are messy but I still love them,” he answered kindly. “There is maybe one or two students who are interested in my subject.”

“C'mon, Jinyoung, they are ten year olds. Nobody cares about literature at that age.”

“I know, I know, that’s why I can’t wait to get out of this grade and start teaching older ones.”

“I still think you should have become a psychologist. You are mine and you are doing hell of a great job,” you laughed, winking at him through your smudgy glasses. You took them off and cleaned them with your light pinkish t-shirt you were wearing.

Jinyoung thought about your words for a moment. “Maybe if the kids will kick me out of the class, I will re-consider my career options.”

“If that happens,” you said as you put your glasses back on, “I will be there to support you.”

5 years later, Mokpo, 2023

“Jaebeom, could you please come over? I think I found an interesting lab result,” shouted Jackson from the other room. He was sitting behind a big microscope, many papers and books scattered around, unfinished coffee and lots and lots of to-do lists.

Jaebeom was just on the phone with a representative of the Thai marine researching team. He was walking over to Jackson while smiling politely althought the representative couldn’t see him. “So when do you reckon you will arrive? We will need to arrange everything around your arrival as well as book the boats and yachts for the trips.”

He walked to Jackson who was showing him results on the computer screen. “Well, erm, Ms Y/L/N is not here at the moment, she is out on a little trip just out of Mokpo. I can tell her whatever you need me to tell her,” answered Jaebeom and squinted his eyes on the computer screen. He was listening intently to the strong Thai accent this person had. “I see. Alright, I’ll definitely let her know. One more question - is Mr Bambam also coming?”

Jackson was dying for Jaebeom’s attention but he had to stay patient for now. He was turning on his chair, zooming in on his friend then zooming out. Jackson was also bearing big glasses that would magnify his already big eyes. Some said he was cute, others he was crazy.

“That’s great news! We are looking forward to meeting you soon. All the best! Bye bye!” Jaebeom let out a tired sigh as he finished the call and tossed the Samsung smart phone on a pile of books. “God, this is gonna be horrible,” he muttered as he leaned in to see the screen.

“You said the exact opposite to them, though,” commented Jacskon. “But yeah, if that mean ass is coming as well, it’s gonna be hell of a nightmare.”

“I can’t say the truth to our business partner, Jackson,” explained Jaebeom, running his eyes through the information. “Anyway, let’s just let Y/N deal with all of it. Oh god, am I seeing positive results for everything?”

“Yup!” squealed Jackson and jumped once in his chair. “I think we are on a very good way to our goal!”

“Then we better tell it to Y/N before she will go craz-“

“What’s happening?”

Both boys turned around to you walking in with your scuba dive suit in your arms.

“We received the call from the Thais,” informed Jaebeom, “they are arriving tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, that’s good then, isn’t it?” you smiled, going to the little bathroom you had in your tiny headquarters. “It shall be an interesting expedition, don’t you agree?”

“Sure,” muttered Jackson, tunirng on his chair to focus his gaze on the computer again. “We have better news though. All the results from the samples you brought in are positive.”

You dropped your suit in the shower as you turned to run into the lab. “What? Are you being serious now?” You pushed Jackson aside who shot you a glare, to have a look for yourself. “If this is really true, that means-“

“Yes,” nodded Jaebeom, bright smile on his lips, an unfamiliar sight for you. “The expedition will be successful, I’m sure.”

“I think we should re-run the tests,” you said, as you looked at your colleagues. “This way we can be 100% sure.”

“But the results are right here,” replied Jackson, pointing at the computer screen. “We would just waste time with getting the samples and running the tests again.”

“Plus, tomorrow the Thai crew arrives. We need to show them some proper results that are not doubted,” added Jaebeom as he leaned against the table, his arms folded on his chest. “I don’t think we need to re-run the tests, Y/N.”

You didn’t like their arguments. You could see where they were coming from, but this was your lab, your tiny research institute that you worked hard on for 5 years. If you wanted to re-run the tests, you certainly would do that. “I will take care of it. After all, I’m the director here.”

“And we are your senior scientists,” muttered Jackson in monotone voice, still not looking at you. “You should listen to those with more experience since you are still just a laboratory scientist.”

“Arhh, Jackson!” you shouted, making him finally turn around to look at you. “I’m trying really hard! But I’m just this way – I need to be sure in things.”

“Well, next time just hire a team that gives you a reason to doubt all the results!”

“But I’m not doubting your work-“

“Then what are you exactly doing at this very moment?” shouted Jacskon as well.

“I’m trying to do my work well!”

“That’s enough, guys,” interfered Jaebeom. Neither of you listened to him though.

“This is my project!” you exclaimed, throwing your arms in the air. “I’m the one who decides about things!”

Wow. You and Jackson never really got along well. He was the exact opposite of your personality. Talkative, cheerful, loud, sociable. He would always argue. For anything.

You? You were quiet, neutral and freaking anti-social. What were friends anyway...

“You are right,” nodded Jackson, his eyes blazing. “You are absolutely right. Who am I to tell you shit?” He looked angrily at you a little bit longer and before you could react, he was taking off his white lab coat and throwing it on the chair, leaving you and Jaebeom in a very unpleasant silence.

You sighed.

“Well, that went well,” concluded your colleague before he sat down in front of the computer to continue his work. “He meant only well, you know? Jacks wouldn’t advise you things he wouldn’t consider correct himself.”

Tears were prickling behind your eyes as you were standing still. For some strange reason, you felt horrible for fighting with Jackson like this. There was no doubt you both accepted each other but any type of fight with him drained you on many levels. Probably, it was because he was always the funny, easy-going guy, whilst with you he was on edge.

“I know,” you stammered, taking off your glasses to massage your tired eyes. “I know.” You shuffled around, trying to collect your thoughts. “Did Youngjae come? He promised he is going to stop by with Yugyeom because of the boats.”

Youngjae was your childhood friend. You were going to the same kindergarten together (the kindergarten his mother owned).

“Nope, didn’t see him today,” answered Jae in a sing-song voice as he moved to the microscope. “He shall be here soon. It’s almost evening anyway.”

And so by the time Youngjae and Yugyeom appeared, you and Jaebeom worked in peaceful silence, none of you paying attention to each other, only acknowledging one another's presence. Jaebeom finished his studies three years before you along with Jackson, so they definitely had more experience in the field. Jackson visited many researching institutes in Australia so to be entirely honest with yourself, without him, you couldn’t move an inch. He had all the necessary information you could use for your own advantage.

“I need him on board,” you said out loud without realising.

Jaebeom snickered, focusing on the samples from the sea you brought in earlier. “Then go talk to him.”

“He totally hates me, how could I.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He is Jackson after all.”

“I totally agree,” exclaimed another voice that was entering the labs.

“Youngjae!” you smiled happily, standing up to hug your best friend. “Where have you guys been for so long, it's already past 8pm!”

“Sorry,” rasped Yugyeom. “We had to finish everything on the construction site.”

“I just needed to know if the boats I reserved are still in the game,” you rambled quickly, eager to have it all confirmed.

Youngjae nodded, plopping down on your chair. “Yup, all good. Get your asses to the docks at 7am.”

“7am?!” squealed Jaebeom, horrified.

“We can go earlier if you want,” said Yugyeom in a fake-monotone voice.

You glared at Jaebeom. “No, he is fine with coming at 7. He will have to go to bed early tonight.”

Jaebeom gladly glared back at you, before Yugyeom asked: “Where is Jackson?”

“He...” you trailed off, guilty.

“God, did you fight again?” rolled his eyes Yugyeom.

You lowered your head, ashamed. “I’ll go and make up with him. We need him tomorrow.”

“Oh right, the Thais are coming,” laughed Youngjae. “Definitely bring him. He will be the only peacemaker before we will kill each other on board.”

“Apparently that Bambam guy is coming. He is the leader of the expedition,” informed Jaebeom.

“Oh my god. That shall be a ride!” laughed Youngjae loudly before he almost fell off the chair.

-.-.-.-

Knocking harshly on the door, you refused to give up. “You are a stubborn child for not opening the goddamn door, Wang!” you shouted but eventually sighed. It was a bit late and you didn't want to wake the neighbours. For sure Jackson would not like that either.

Knock. Knock.

“Jackson,” you murmured, “please, open. I know you are there.”

Exactly 1 minute later and one glass of patience filled up to its limit, the doors swung open and a sleepy looking Jackson appeared.

“What is it, Y/N, it's late!” he hissed, looking around to make sure nobody was lurking around.

“I came to apologise,” you started before he could pull out any more of his arguments.

“Fine, it's good, now go,” he said, dismissing you with a wave of his hand, turning to close the door.

“Jackson,” you pleaded, reaching out your hand to stop him.

“Listen, Y/N,” he grumbled, his angry face scaring you a bit, “I know exactly what you came for. Yes, I will be present tomorrow at the meeting. Yes, I will share my knowledge with your research.”

His words...hurt. “What have I done to you? Just because I told you I want to re-run some tests-“

“Oh, right, that one. I already forgot about that,” he fake laughed. “That is not the thing that pisses me off.”

“Then what is it?” you asked in a pleading tone. “I didn’t mean to do harm to you!”

He fell silent, poking his tongue in the inside of his cheek. “Just go, Y/N. It's late, you shouldn’t wander around by yourself.”

“I care about you Jackson.”

He bit back a sarcastic scoff. “Right. Go. See you tomorrow.” And with that he closed the door, its shutting echoing in the empty corridors.

Clenching your jaw, you made your way out of his apartment building before you could cry. There was no reason for him to be this way. What was his issue?

The next day, the sun was shining strong, skies were clear and blue, barely any wind. You met with the boys at 7am just as planned to run your last errands. You collected the needed samples while Youngjae and Yugyeom were navigating the boat in the quiet waters near Mokpo. They were skilled sailors and understood well boats and yachts as they mostly worked on boat constructions. The duo had great dynamics and both of them were your good friends, what else did you possibly needed?

After you returned from the water back on the board, you looked at Jaebeom and Jackson to make sure they didn’t see anything unusual on the monitors as they were scribbling down notes of the underwater world from the machines.

“I got some good samples I can show to Mr Bambam,” you exclaimed excitedly, showing them the sea flora to prove your point.

Jaebeom smiled at you kindly, taking it from you to put them in the bags while Jackson barely paid any attention to you.

“You will do well, Y/N, I’m sure of it,” said Yugyeom as he came to you to squeeze your shoulder. “You have few hours left till the meeting, you should make sure everything is alright.”

“She already did that like 300 times,” muttered Jackson, not bothering to look up from his notebook.

Yugyeom shot him a disapproving look but you just decided to let it go.

It hurt. It hurt a lot that he was being this way but at the moment you needed him to focus on his work.

By 7pm, all the five of you were neatly dressed and waiting for the Thai crew to arrive at your labs. You didn’t realize you were holding your breath until Jaebeom motioned for you to keep breathing.

“Okay, should we run over everything again?” you asked, as you were massaging your hands anxiously. “I mean, I’m sure all of you know but...”

Youngjae smiled reassuringly. “Of course we can go through it if it will give you a peace of mind.”

But before you could actually go over it, the doorbell rang loudly. Oh god, they were here!

Your time to shine.

You quickly opened the door to find the famous Thai biologist standing there tall and... well, proud. He gave you a look and entered, ignoring your greetings.

“Hello, welcome,” you said to his 4 teammates as they were entering. Unlike their leader, they had manners.

“Is this the team?” asked Bambam as he was looking around with a confused face, once again ignoring the greetings from the boys.

“Yes,” you answered, trying to be positive. “We already stumbled upon a great discovery, Mr Bambam-“

“Please,” he interrupted you, finally giving you a generous smile, “just Bambam.”

You gulped, nodding energetically. “Yes, Mr Bam- I mean, Bambam.” You could literally feel Jackson and Jaebeom rolling their eyes at your horrible stuttering.

“I was expecting a better, perhaps more advanced laboratory than this. This is a laboratory right?” he raised his left eyebrow as he looked at you, not that interested.

His words threw you off guard. “Well, yes, this is the lab we work in. I can assure you we have all the necessary equipment for this expedition.”

“Don’t worry, I brought machines, too. I am more accustomed to them anyway.”

You nodded once again, not sure what to say anymore. He seemed to have the right answer for himself either way, so you looked to the ground when you heard a voice speak up, startling you.

“So how was your way here? Also I absolutely adore your watch, Bambam.” Jackson. He was walking towards the man with a bright smile, grabbing his hand without his permission and looking at the expensive Swiss watch. No more grumpiness or disgust.

Bambam's eyes lit up right away. “Oh, maaan, I bought them last week!”

And that’s how it started. The long evening full of fake kind conversations.

As you were standing aside, watching others interact, Youngjae came to you, nudging you with his elbow. “Hey, everything is going alright, don’t be so stressed.”

“I’m not stressed.”

“Yes, you are. Just a look and all of us can see it.”

You sighed and pursed your lips. “I just care about this project a lot, that’s all.”

“And you will do just fine. After all, he is one of the best marine biologists out there,” said Youngjae, nodding his head towards the laughing Bambam. He did get on well with Jackson.

“I wish,” you scoffed, “but I will work hard, that’s for sure.”

By the end of the meeting, you all warmed up to each other in a certain way. You managed to laugh with the Thai colleagues, but their leader, that Bambam dude, was a tough one. He was so full of himself, ew. You didn’t know he was such a bastard. There wasn’t a single time he wouldn’t talk only about himself and his research programme he was leading in Thailand. Not even once did he bother to ask more about your research and your colleagues which started to piss you off pretty badly.

Jaebeom was trying to talk about findings that your team made in the surrounding sea but Bambam ignored him smoothly, and changed the subject on the differences in the water temperature in the seas around Phuket.

God. This guy.

It didn’t matter to you that much. You had his famous name, his knowledge and that’s all that mattered to you.

When all of you stood up to part ways and get some rest before the hard work tomorrow, Bambam once again startled you in an unpleasant way. “I would like you, Y/N, to show me around tomorrow afternoon. I prefer to sleep in in the mornings if you don’t mind. Others don’t have to come, you have free day tomorrow.”

Your mouth fell open while your friends gave you a shocked look. “Well, I’m afraid the work in this lab never stops.”

“It will tomorrow,” answered Bambam as if nothing happened. “I would like to get to know you better, Y/N so I know who I have the privilege to work with.”

You gulped, feeling his gaze on you. Jaebeom was about to interfere when you said: “Alright. Jaebeom and Jackson, it’s a free day tomorrow for you. I’ll gladly show you around, Bambam.”

Challenge accepted.

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